Friday, December 21, 2012

Will we again be hit by the sort of asteroid that ended the dinosaurs? Probably, but we'll never see it coming; in fact, we already missed it if we can assume that maybe we've been threatened by menacing space junk in the past and our modern technologies might have already prevented us from a painful case of mass extinction.

Why? Well, first of all, do you think it would be a great idea for our association of paternalistic world governments to share this sort of information with their respective populaces, us? Do you think we'd all come together and unite as the Human Race or do you think that each Nation State would, instead, lose completely the tenuous control they have of us, their people, us.

"the Internet allows us to do some mind blowing things when it comes to visualizing data, and this website is one example. The link takes you to an amazing three-dimensional visualization of 580,000 known asteroids throughout our solar system. " Our asteroids. Our solar system. Our galaxy. (Asterank)

Asterank, which created the map, used estimations of asteroid mass and composition from multiple scientific source to assess the relative commercial value of each asteroid. Based upon factors such as future proximity to Earth, the company also created a database of which asteroids might be most profitable to mine.
Some asteroids, the company says, have an estimated profit of more than $1 trillion.

BY: ALLISON MCCARTNEY Guatemalan shaman Christian Nottbohn holds a Mayan ceremony in Copan Archeological Park in Honduras. The apocalypse predicted for Dec. 12, 2012 is largely an American creation, not a Mayan one. Photo by Orlando Sierra/ AFP/ Getty Images. As everyone knows by now, the apocalypse has been averted. As detailed in movies, television shows and numerous advertisements, the end of the world predicted in ancient Mayan lore strikes on Dec. 21, 2012, the last day of the Mayan calendar, bringing with it floods, earthquakes, the reversal of the Earth's magnetic poles and the beginning of a new spiritual age.

This unlikely doomsday story has become a prominent thread in the national conversation. And if it resembles everything that Americans expect in a Hollywood blockbuster, that's probably because it's mostly an American creation, not a Mayan one. Professor Mark Van Stone of Southwestern College, who studies Mayan hieroglyphs and calligraphy, says that early scholarly work on the Maya is partly to blame. "The scientists speculated that the Maya had this cycle and when the calendar went to 13.0.0.0.0, the gods started the clock running again," he said in a phone interview from Mexico Thursday. The Mayan Long Count calendar is separated into 360 day years called "Tuns," 20 year periods called "Katuns," and 400 year periods called "Baktuns." The end of the 13th Baktun, or 13.0.0.0.0, falls on Dec. 21, 2012. In the mid-1970s scholars who had previously speculated on the Mayan cycle found references to dates far beyond 13.0.0.0.0. "This escaped the general understanding," said Van Stone in the interview,

"The scholars said, 'Oh, we were wrong,' but the memo didn't get out to the general public." Professor John Hoopes of the University of Kansas, who has studied the development of the 2012 phenomenon, says that the origins of the doomsday myth lay in speculative academia that was then co-opted and embellished by others. "Specific assertions about 2012 derive from statements made by reputable scholars -- the experts of their time -- that were misinterpreted in unanticipated ways," he wrote in an article last year for the International Astronomy Union. Early scholars of the Maya in the U.S. and Europe derived their ideas of a Mayan prediction of the apocalypse primarily from documents dated to the 16th century, which led them astray. "We don't see doomsday myths before the arrival of the Spanish, and that's an important distinction because there are end-of-the-world predictions that come after Roman Catholic missionaries," said Dr. Hoopes in a phone interview. "It was a Christian end-of-the-world eschatology." However, all of this work might have remained on the dusty bookshelf of an academic library if not for the work of writers, poets and New Age spiritualists in the 1950s and 60s. A book called "The Ancient Maya" published by archaeologist Sylvanus Morley in 1946 brought Mayan mythology to the masses, and inspired members of the Beat movement like William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg to travel to the sites of ancient Aztec and Mayan civilizations for further study. Kevin Whitesides, who studies the emergence of 2012 mythology, says that there have been about 3,000 books written since 1966 that discuss 2012. "There's quite a huge variety," he said over the phone. "You'll find perspectives from all the major religions. There's Buddhist books about 2012, there's Muslim, Christian and Hindu books on 2012.

"Then there's also all the new age books, those who are looking for the dawn of a new age, doomsday stories." However, he says, most of these books have been self-published by their authors. Along with them have come books about less well-known aspects of the Mayan apocalypse. "There are books on how to make money off of 2012, 2012 cookbooks, that sort of thing," he said. The hold that 2012 has on the American imagination is so strong that astronomers and scientists have been asked to weigh in on the matter. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson vented his frustration at having to explain why the Earth isn't going to end from a scientific perspective while appearing on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon recently.

"There's no greater sign of the failure of the American educational system than the extent to which Americans are distracted by the possibility that the Earth might end on Dec. 21, 2012," he said. The idea of setting a date for the end of the world is nothing new; American writers and religious leaders have predicted the end of time for centuries. Radio preacher Harold Camping signaled the alarm to his devoted followers on the coming of the "rapture" to no avail. A recent Reuters poll found that one in seven people around the world think that the world will come to an end during their lifetimes, and that 10 percent believe it could happen in 2012 as predicted by the Mayan calendar. If this is their fear, they should sit comfortable in knowing that the Mayan calendar accounts for many, many years to come.

Monday, December 17, 2012

The Led Zeppelin reunion show at the O2 Arena, and there were some surprises: alongside the hoary classics ("Stairway to Heaven," "Kashmir") there was a strong selection of deeper cuts ("Trampled Under Foot," "Nobody's Fault But Mine") and one live debut (Presence's "For Your Life"). Tomorrow, we'll have David Fricke's complete report from the Ahmet Ertegun Benefit, but until then, here's the full set list:"Good Times, Bad Times""Ramble On""Black Dog""In My Time of Dying""For Your Life""Trampled Under Foot""Nobody's Fault But Mine""No Quarter""Since I've Been Lovin' You""Dazed and Confused""Stairway To Heaven""The Song Remains the Same""Misty Mountain Hop""Kashmir"Encore:"Whole Lotta Love""Rock and Roll"See Prices On Amazon Click Here

Sunday, December 16, 2012

These will be the Stones' third and fourth area appearances this month. They played at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn Dec. 8, and took the stage briefly at the 12-12-12 benefit at Madison Square Garden, contributing sharp versions of "You Got Me Rocking" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash."

EnlargeStar-Ledger Entertainment DeskMick Jagger, lead singer for the rock group the "Rolling Stones" performs with his band in the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden, June 19, 1982, before some 112,177 spectators. (TOMMY WIBERG/AFP/Getty Images)

John Mayer joined the Stones at Thursday's show in Newark, playing guitar on "Respectable." But it was Taylor who stole the show with his dynamic guitar playing on "Midnight Rambler."

These will be the last of the only five full-length concerts the Stones are presenting this year, though band members have said in interviews that they may continue touring next year as well.

And from the rear of the stage at Prudential Center, bearing a Telecaster and a smile, came Bruce Springsteen.

It was the ideal combination of blue-collar Jersey muscle and delectable London sleaze: The Boss and Jagger, voices joined together on “Tumbling Dice.”

Springsteen had come to send off the Rolling Stones, who declared the 2½-hour Saturday night concert the last stop on their 50 and Counting Tour. The Boss, who has never been shy about citing the Stones as a major influence, looked delighted as he roared out the verses of “Dice,” pumping his fist and grinning wildly as he sang along.

In that regard, he was not so different from the thousands of thrilled attendees who sold out the Rock last night. He just had a microphone and a spotlight.

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WASHINGTON — The 2012 presidential election broke the $2 billion milestone in its final weeks, becoming the most expensive in American political history, according to final federal finance reports released Thursday. The reports detailed a last-minute cascade of money from mega-donors and an onslaught of spending by the Obama and Romney campaigns and "super" political action committees.

The final campaign finance tallies filed with the Federal Election Commission included nearly $86 million in fundraising for the losing presidential candidate, Republican Mitt Romney, in the election's last weeks. That final burst brought the Romney campaign's total for the election to above $1 billion. Final fundraising and spending totals for President Barack Obama's victorious drive also topped $1 billion.

Surpassing the $2 billion mark was long expected after an election season dominated by the supercharged competitive pressures that both campaigns faced in mounting massive fundraising blitzes to stoke expensive media ad battles and ground wars. The Obama and Romney campaigns each mobilized competing squads of ultra-wealthy fundraisers, sought aid from free-spending allied super PACs and deployed multimillion-dollar media broadsides and armies of organizers.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Mr McAfee, the man behind the popular anti-virus computer software, has been in hiding since November after his neighbour¸ the American businessman Gregory Viant Faull, was shot dead.

Mr McAfee, founder of the anti-virus software company that bears his last name, denies any involvement in Mr Faull’s murder which happened on Ambergris Caye, an island where they both live off the coast of Belize. Police say they want to speak to him about the killing, but claim they do not consider him a suspect.

However Mr McAfee has repeatedly said that he believes the police and government in Belize are corrupt and that he will be “summarily executed” if he is ever caught. He has previously dismissed the possibility of ever handing himself in.

During his time on the run a blog written by the 67-year-old, has documented his travails which include disguising himself as a tramp to avoid detection.

On Saturday the blog was updated. A message, which unlike other posts appears to have been written by a third party, read: “We have received an unconfirmed report that John McAfee has been captured at the border of Belize and
Mexico.”http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/belize/9717170/John-McAfee-captured-on-Belize-Mexico-border.html

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Washington: Quashing the 'doomsday' rumours, top NASA scientists have assured that the world won't end on December 21, 2012.

"The world will not end in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012," NASA said on its website.

The 'doomsday story' started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth, scientists said.

This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012 and linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 - hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012, they said.

The US Space agency also specified that the Mayan calendar does not end in December 2012.

"Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012," NASA said.

"This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then - just as your calendar begins again on January 1 - another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar," it said.

Scientists also clarified that the rumour of a planet or brown dwarf called Nibiru or Planet X or Eris approaching the Earth and threatening our planet with widespread destruction is just an "Internet hoax".

"Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for these claims.

If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye," scientists said.

"Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles," they said.

On danger of Earth being hit by a meteor in 2012, scientists said that NASA astronomers are carrying out a study called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit.

"The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs," they said.Cross Posted From This Source

Monday, November 26, 2012

A rule change could prompt a furious GOP revolt. | Jay Westcott/POLITICO
Close
By MANU RAJU | 11/25/12 1:02 PM EST
A partisan war is brewing that could bring the government to a screeching halt as early as January — and no, it’s not over the fiscal cliff.
It’s all about the filibuster.Latest on POLITICO
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Filibuster fight seizes Senate
Democrats are threatening to change filibuster rules, in what will surely prompt a furious GOP revolt that could make those rare moments of bipartisan consensus even harder to come by during the next Congress.

(Also on POLITICO: Graham: I would violate Norquist's pledge)
Here’s what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is considering: banning filibusters used to prevent debate from even starting and House-Senate conference committees from ever meeting. He also may make filibusters become actual filibusters — to force senators to carry out the nonstop, talkathon sessions.
Republicans are threatening even greater retaliation if Reid uses a move rarely used by Senate majorities: changing the chamber’s precedent by 51 votes, rather than the usual 67 votes it takes to overhaul the rules.

“I think the backlash will be severe,” Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), the conservative firebrand, said sternly. “If you take away minority rights, which is what you’re doing because you’re an ineffective leader, you’ll destroy the place. And if you destroy the place, we’ll do what we have to do to fight back.”
“It will shut down the Senate,” the incoming Senate GOP whip, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, told POLITICO. “It’s such an abuse of power.”

(Also on POLITICO: McCain on abortion: GOP should leave issue alone)

The push will happen at the start of the new Congress, when Reid will unveil a rules package certain to have some changes to the filibuster. The exact contents of that package have yet to be finalized, as is the decision on whether to invoke the so-called nuclear option — 51 votes — to push it through.
But Democratic senators are urging Reid to take steps ranging from the most draconian one of virtually eliminating the filibuster to more piecemeal changes designed to discourage the use of the stalling tactic.
What Reid appears most likely to do is push for an end to the filibuster on so-called motions to proceed, or the beginning of a debate on bills or nominations. If Reid goes this route, senators could still filibuster virtually any other aspect of Senate business, including any movement to end debate and call for a final vote on a bill.

And Reid is strongly considering pushing for other filibuster changes, too — most notably requiring senators to actually go to the floor and carry out an endless talking session, rather than simply threaten them as they do now.

Reminiscent of the 1939 movie classic “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” the idea has picked up steam in liberal circles — and its intent is to discourage senators from filibustering, though it would fundamentally change the very nature of the modern Senate.
(PHOTOS: Fiscal cliff's key players)
“We cannot allow the Senate to be dysfunctional by the use of filibusters,” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Reid’s No. 2. “We’ve had over 300 filibusters in the last six years — it’s unprecedented.

What we’re talking about is very basic — you want to start a filibuster, you want to stop the business of the Senate, by goodness’ sake, park your fanny on the floor of the Senate and speak. If you want to go to dinner and go home over the weekend, be prepared, the Senate is moving forward.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Leo- Friday, November 23, 2012
The celestial weather, such as it is right now, could inflate a small issue into something bigger than it deserves. Put aside any inclination to turn a molehill into a mountain. Things are essentially going very well. The hassle you are dealing with is not of your making. Keep your mood constructive, think before you bark, and you’ll end this day feeling very well indeed.

Cross-posted on HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher site.

New Rule: Now that he's been reelected, President Obama must get back at all those right wing hacks who tried to paint him as an angry black man pushing a liberal agenda by becoming an angry black man who's pushing a liberal agenda.
Now, I have been mostly holding my tongue about the president this past season, because I didn't want to muddy the waters in a country where you only get two choices, but Mr. President, there are two ways to look at your 51 to 48 percent victory: One is, we love you. The other is, we like you three percent better than Mitt Romney. And by the way, let us never speak that name again... Mitt... let it be a dark and buried memory of a close call with a creature equal parts pure evil and excellent posture, like getting dry humped in a crowded subway by Roger Moore. I like this president. In all those secret strategy meetings we had, with me and him and George Soros and The New Black Panthers, I found him to be very agreeable, Allah be praised. But it's now the job of progressives to hold his feet to the fire for causes important to us. If not now, when?
There's no third term, Mr. President, so you may as well throw caution to the wind, 'cause it's not like we're using it to produce energy. Yes, clean energy, that's just one of many issues, like civil liberties, the drug war, the drone war, the war war, gun control -- that have been on my mind these last four years, and let's just say I've been waiting to exhale. And by that I mean, I've been holding my nose.
But you're free now -- with no more elections to win, you are free to never again have to kiss the ass of coal miners and say the words "clean coal." There is no such thing as "clean coal." It's like saying "Internet Privacy" or "Tea Party Intellectual." Or "Fox News Journalist."
Another priority should be cutting the defense budget -- we're the home of the brave, let's prove it by getting by with one less submarine. Yes, we were involved in a struggle against a radical enemy bent on our destruction -- but the election is over, and we need to recognize that America has the same problem with the defense budget that Mrs. Petraeus has with her husband's penis: it's swollen, and we can't bring ourselves to touch it.
And as far as Afghanistan goes, I know you said we're leaving in 2014, but look at it this way: enemies are always on guard for a surprise attack, but they'd never suspect a surprise retreat. Really. We can leave right away. Because we've figured out something the Afghans haven't: air travel.
And as long as we're ending wars, how about the War on Drugs? Two states, Colorado and Washington, have actually legalized pot now, which gives you as president the rare opportunity to improve the world by doing... absolutely nothing. Just tell Eric Holder to stay the hell out of Boulder, and if the conservatives bitch about it, throw states' rights back in their face -- isn't that their big theme, send it back to the states, the will of the people? Well, this is the people who, in those two states on election day, got up off the couch and drove their 1987 Toyota Tercel with the "Visualize World Peace" sticker on the back to the polls, and voted to stop the drug war. And then drove home and got back on the couch.
And finally, instead of rewriting Social Security, how about rewriting the Patriot Act? How about another look at rendition, and warrantless searches and wire taps? And how about stop listening in on our phone calls and reading our e-mails. I'm not a teenager and you're not my mom, ok? And besides, there's a better way to confirm your suspicions that I'm smoking weed and hanging around the wrong people: just watch my show. Real Time With Bill Maher returns with new shows on Friday, January 18th on HBO.

Carved on a stone staircase, the inscription was found at the ruins of La Corona, in the dense rainforest of northwestern Guatemala, by an international team of archaeologists led by Canuto and colleague Tomás Barrientos of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala.

The archaeologists made the discovery as they decided to excavate in front of a building that had been heavily damaged nearly 40 years ago by looters looking for carved stones and tombs.

"We knew they found something important, but we also thought they might have missed something," Barrientos said.

Indeed, the archaeologists not only recovered 10 discarded hieroglyphic stones, but also something that the looters missed entirely -- an untouched step with a set of 12 exquisitely carved stones still in their original location.

Combined with the known looted blocks, the original staircase had a total of 264 hieroglyphs, making it one of the longest ancient Maya texts known, and the longest in Guatemala.

According to David Stuart, director of the Mesoamerica Center of the University of Texas at Austin, who deciphered the hieroglyphics, the stairway inscription recorded 200 years of La Corona's history.

Bearing 56 delicately carved hieroglyphs, the stone referring to the year 2012 commemorated a royal visit to La Corona (which the ancient Maya called Saknikte’) by the ruler Yuknoom Yich’aak K’ahk’ from the great Maya capital of Calakmul on Jan. 29, 696 A.D.

Iran appears set to sharply increase the output at its Fardo underground uranium enrichment facility after completing the installation of almost all centrifuges the facility is designed to hold, according to a leaked copy of an International Atomic Energy Agency ...

MOSCOW - Just how strained the longstanding alliance between Russia and Germany has grown was evident here on Friday, as President Vladimir V. Putin batted away complaints by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, about Russia's human rights ...

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About Me

The late great comedian George Carlin once said "life's a beach"...the world is changing at an alarming rate, for some , its a life or death struggle and for others its another media event on the nightly news, like the 44th President Barack Obamas landslide win in the worst world economy since the 1929 crash. And the killing of Osama by Obama!
and in 2016 Trump 45th President Of The USA. Bush's Republican playbook.
This blog is this bloggers effort to chronicle history as its being made,I will attempt to blog the events that fall under the categories of being strange,weird,curious,mediocre and the most significant events of your life and mine. These grabbed headlines during the years of your lifetime and mine.